Bogus check scheme leads to 17 arrests

FDLE: Suspects made $500,000 in bogus check scheme

After a yearlong, multi-county investigation, 17 people have been accused of defrauding local retail stores of merchandise by using false checks.

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Investigators said the arrests come after an elaborate scheme that netted the group about $500,000.

According to detectives, the majority of the people arrested are local, but some of them are from south and West Florida and one suspect lists an Oklahoma address.

Officers said the accused men and women used fake checks and driver’s licenses to buy various merchandise.

"They were creating Florida IDs and driver's licenses every bit as real as the ones you and I carry," Florida Department of Law Enforcement spokesman Danny Banks.

They then returned that merchandise to stores and received money or store credit.

"Even the best security these retailers have, they can't catch them all and at the end of the day prices have to go up because of the theft loss, so you and I are victims," said Banks.

They would use the store credit to buy gift cards associated with major credit card companies, according to investigators.

Some of the people arrested have been in trouble before, but somehow the cases never led to much punishment.

"Every person up there was adept at using fake IDs, fake bank accounts and fake numbers, and we truly believe the only number they need now is a Florida Department of Corrections Inmate number," said Banks.

A law enforcement official tells The Associated Press that a Justice Department investigation has found patterns of racial bias in the Ferguson, Missouri, police department and at the municipal jail and court.